By Patricia H. Kushlis
I’m not a regular reader of Al Kamen’s column except when I’m in Washington, DC – because, well, it seems so inside the beltway and northern New Mexico - which has its very own scandals to follow - is a good 2,000 miles away. But I did happen to come across Kamen's July Fourth one entitled “Where Will Fredo Pop Up Next?” The Fredo column also highlighted – under the subhead “O Brothel, Where Art Thou?” - the now infamous all-points, or all-embassies cable sent out last month by the State Department’s Director General Harry K. Thomas. This directive, that I’ve heard had employees chortling in the halls, warned all employees and contractors including the military to refrain from abetting sex trafficking or soliciting people in prostitution – whether prostitution is legal in the host country or not.
What surprised me about Kamen’s column, however, was his final two sentences: “The cable got the diplos wondering if some specific incident triggered the ‘reminder.’ Nothing uncovered so far, but still checking.”
Still checking?
Oh, give me a break. Even I in the midst of the southwest desert – or more accurately on the banks of the Rio Grande – had that figured out well before the Fourth. Haven’t Kamen – his State Department sources or his 11 equally clueless commenters – heard of Gons Nachman and his apparent visas for under age sex scandal?
Hello, Al, Jerry Markon reported that story in The Washington Post on June 6. I mentioned it in my June 20 WV post “Cleaning Up the Shenanigans and Reinstituting the Golden Rule.” But I guess you (and others) didn't read that one either.
For those of you who missed this story the first or even second time around, here it is again:
Then in early June, albeit at a far less exalted level, a visas and perversion scandal broke in The Washington Post. Turns out Gons Nachman, a junior Consular Officer was found guilty of child molestation. He had made video tapes of his exploits with under age girls at two different posts (Congo and Brasilia) in an apparent sex-for-visas trade off and then had the temerity to ask the judge if he would marry him and a 21 year old Brazilian while he was serving jail time. Worse, the judge initially agreed. Now this might be funny if it weren’t so sick. I’m amazed the story didn’t run front and center in a supermarket tabloid or that the tapes of his exploits didn’t find their way onto You Tube. Since apparently Mr. Nachman had a history of frequenting naturalist er nudist camps prior to becoming a diplomat, one has to wonder what Diplomatic Security was thinking when, in 2003, they OKed his security clearance.
I knew about Thomas’ “anti-prostitution ring” warning cable at the time I posted the State Department Shenanigans story – but given the enormity of the other administrative problems that State needs to clean up I decided it was not worth making the connection at the time.
But if you don’t think Nachman’s exploits were the impetus for the Thomas cable, think again, Al.